Castillo de Salas (Ship)

The Castillo de Salas was a bulk carrier that was launched to sea in Ferrol in August, 1980. It weighed over 50,000 tons, displaced over 100,000 tons of water, measured approximately m to ft|num=250|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=1|wiki=yes in length, m to ft|num=40|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=1|wiki=no across the beam, and m to ft|num=14.5|abbr=no|spell=Commonwealth|precision=2|wiki=no in draft. It required a crew complement of 32.

Disaster

During the morning of January 11, 1986 the bulk carrier Castillo de Salas, property of the Spanish company "ElCano", [cite web
title = Naviera "ElCano"
url = http://www.buques.org/Navieras/Elcano/Elcano-7_E.htm
publisher = Buques.org
language = Spanish ] ran aground over rocks 740 metres North/North-west of Gijon. The ship was anchored outside Gijon's seaport (El Musel) when the ship's anchor came loose in bad weather. Efforts to re-anchor, self-propel and even tow the ship away from the coast failed due to harsh seas. The cargo was nearly 100,000 metric tonnes of coal loaded in Norfolk, Virginia as well as over 1000 tonnes of fuel-oil used for propulsion.

On January 15, 1986 the hull broke in two during efforts to bring the ship afloat, therefore releasing a spil of diesel oil and coal ore.

On February 23, 1986 the bow half of the hull was refloated, towed 39 miles into the sea and scuttled in waters of 4000 metres in depth. Officials stated that no diesel oil was left in the bow section of the hull. During the following spring, the company "Fondomar" was tasked with scrapping the remainder of the stern portion of the hull. [citation
author = Gloria López Gamallo
title = Castillo de Salas 1986-2003
contribution = Castillo de Salas 1986-2003
url = http://www.cedre.fr/uk/publication/jourinfo03/7lopez_gb.pdf
publisher = Spanish Maritime Safety Agency
language = English
format = PDF ]

Second salvage of the stern section

Small balls of decomposed oil were found sporadicly since the wreckage until 2001, when a major find of these balls was confirmed to be from fuel remaining in the double bottom fuel tank of the stern section that was not removed in 1986. This led to a second salvage operation to remove the fuel during 2001-2002 [citation
periodical = Boletín Oficial del Estado, BOE (Spanish)
tittle = Contaminación de la playa de San Lorenzo de Gijón (Asturias) procedente de los restos del buque «Castillo de Salas», que embarrancó en dicha bahía en el año 1986
last = Gárate Hormaza
first = Francisco Javier
publication-date = 2002-09-24
date = 2001-09-12
pages = 7706 - 7707
volume = 229
url = http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2002/09/24/pdfs/B07706-07707.pdf
publisher = Ministerio de Fomento (Spanish Government)
format = PDF
id = 2002/229031 ] and the complete the removal of the remainder of the wreck in 2003 due to public out-cry. [cite news
title = Spill of Castillo de Salas
url = http://www.cedre.fr/uk/spill/castillo/castillo.htm
publisher = Centre of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution
language = English ] [cite news
title = El hermano pequeño del 'Prestige'
url = http://www.elmundo.es/papel/2003/02/02/espana/1326229.html
publisher = El Mundo
language = Spanish ] [citation
periodical = Boletín oficial de las cortes generales (Spanish)
title = Contaminación de la playa de San Lorenzo de Gijón (Asturias) procedente de los restos del buque «Castillo de Salas», que embarrancó en dicha bahía en el año 1986
last = Llamazares Trigo
first = Gaspar
publication-date = 2001-09-27
date = 2001-09-11
pages = 26
volume = 237
url = http://www.senado.es/legis7/publicaciones/pdf/congreso/bocg/D0237.PDF
publisher = Spanish Senate
language = Spanish
format = PDF ]

Trophies

On November 15, 2003 Gijon artist Joaquin Rubio Camin's sculpture "Memory" was unveiled on the Camino del Cervigon overlooking the sea. The sculpture was made using part of the remains of the "Castillo de Salas" which sank off Gijon and were recovered earlier in the year. [cite news
title = Shipwreck sculpture unveiled
url = http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/966
publisher = ThinkSpain
language = English ] [cite web
title = Castillo de Salas
url = http://esculturaurbana.iespana.es/paginas/cam018.htm
publisher = Escultura Urbana
language = Spanish ] cite web
title = Castillo de Salas - Una incómoda zapatilla
url = http://www.masmar.com/articulos/art/77,1006,1.html
publisher = Mas Mar
language = Spanish ]

One of the ship's anchors is displayed in "Philippe Cousteau's Anchor Museum" in Salinas beach, Spain, 30 km west of Gijon. [cite web
title = Ancla del Castillo de Salas (1.980 — 1.986)
url = http://www.museodeanclas.es/castillo_salas.html
publisher = Museo de Anclas Philippe Cousteau
language = Spanish ]

Side effects

Since accident, it is common to find dark sand contaminated with coal on the beaches in the Bay of Gijon, particularly after rough sea conditions. The amounts recovered continue to reduce over time, but patches of dark coloured sand, high in black coal particles, can be seen at low tide. [cite web
title = La Columna - Castillo de Salas
url = http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/pg060127/prensa/noticias/Lacolumna/200601/27/GIJ-LAC-115.html
publisher = El Comercio
language = Spanish ] [cite web
title = El carbón del Castillo de Salas vuelve a la playa
url = http://www.lavozdeasturias.es/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=140551
publisher = La voz de Asturias
language = Spanish ]

References

Further reading

* [http://canales.elcomerciodigital.com/extras/castillodesalas/|Hundimiento del Castillo de Salas]
* [http://www.navymar.com/CastillodeSalasMusel.htm|Piezas del Castillo de Salas (English and Spanish)]
* [http://www.bajoelagua.com/articulos/noticias-buceo/1138.htm|Interview with Joaquin Rubio Camin about his sculpture]
* [http://www.imedia.es/brand/engels.htm|Diving at the remains of Castillo de Salas (English)]

External Multimedia Links

* [http://www.titansalvage.com/aboutus/gallery/gallery15.html|Pictures from Salvage company Titan of "Castillo de Salas" in 2003]